NEW ORLEANS, La. – Senior Lindy Duncan and freshman Celine Boutier each opened with two-under par, 70, to lead the third-ranked Duke women’s golf team at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Championship on Sunday. The Blue Devils, who won the event last season, are in a tie for second place after the first round of play at the English Turn Golf and Country Club.

As a team, the Blue Devils held the team lead mid-way through the round, quickly moving to four-under par. However, Tulane made a late afternoon surge and took the overnight lead at five-under par, 282.

The Blue Devils fired a five-under par, 283, and sit in second place, one stroke behind host Tulane University. The team is tied with UCLA for second, while Alabama, Florida, Southern California, Baylor, LSU, Texas and Oklahoma State round out the top-10. Tulane’s Emily Penttila leads the individual portion of the event, opening with a five-under par, 67.

A native of Montrouge, France, Boutier opened her round on the second hole with five consecutive pars, before dropping a shot on the seventh hole. The rookie responded with her first birdie of the round two holes later, on the par-four ninth. On the back-nine, Boutier carded her second birdie in three holes after recording a birdie on the 491-yard, par-five 11th hole. After dropping shots on holes No. 12 and 13 with a bogey, Boutier responded by closing her round with three birdies over her final six holes, including her final hole of the day on No. 1. She sits in a tie for seventh, after completing her round at two-under par, 70. Boutier hit 12 fairways, 12 greens and had 27 putts.

After tying for fourth last season at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate, Duncan also opened with a two-under par, 70. Duncan, who is out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., started on the first hole and recorded birdies on the short 311-yard, par-four fourth hole and the par-five sixth hole, making the turn at two-under, 34. The senior closed her round with 12 consecutive pars and sits in a tie for seventh. Duncan hit 11 fairways, 12 greens and had 28 putts in the first round.

Junior Alejandra Cangrejo fired a one-under par, 71, to open the tournament in a tie for 15th. A native of Bogota, Columbia, Cangrejo kicked off the action with pars on each of her first four holes, before dropping a shot with a bogey on the 388-yard, par-four fifth. The third-year player bounced back and recorded back-to-back birdies on No. 7 and No. 8, to close the front-nine with a one-under par, 35. On the back nine, Cangrejo carded one bogey on the par-five 15th, before recording her final birdie of the round on the following hole, the 312-yard, par-four 16th. She totaled 11 greens, nine fairways hit and had 28 putts on the day.

Junior Laetitia Beck recorded an even-par, 72, in her opening round of play. After making a par on her first hole of the day, on the 516-yard, par-five second, Beck had her first blemish on the scorecard on the par-three third hole, carding a bogey. The junior responded in a big way three holes later, as she recorded an eagle on the par-five sixth. A native of Caesarea, Israel, Beck registered pars on 12 of her final 13 holes of the day, as she carded her second bogey of the round on the par-four 14th.

After opening her tournament with Duke’s lone over par score of the day, senior Stacey Kim sits in a tie for 41st, carding a two-over, 74. Kim started her round with a bogey on the 138-yard, par-three fourth hole, before carding her first birdie of the round on No. 7. The senior dropped a shot with a bogey on the par-four ninth, before getting back to even-par with her final birdie of the day on the par-five 11th. Kim, who is from Columbus, Ga., closed her round with two bogeys and seven pars over her final nine holes.

As a team, Duke registered 12 birdies on the day.

The second round of play is scheduled to be played at 9:00 a.m. with a shotgun start. For live scoring, visit www.golfstat.com.